Case rate climbs as vaccination efforts continue

Anne Arundel County reported 179 new coronavirus cases and no new deaths Saturday. Maryland reported 1,118 new cases and 26 new deaths.

The county case rate slowly climbed each day the past week and reached 18.7 cases per 100,000 people Saturday.

The total number of confirmed infections since March is now 37,629, and at least 544 Anne Arundel County residents have died. Fourteen others are suspected of having died of the virus but were never tested.

Across the state, at least 399,016 infections have been recorded since March, and at least 7,974 Marylanders have died of the virus.

The county did not update its COVID19 vaccine data Saturday, but as of Friday, at least 4,500 more Anne Arundel County residents received the coronavirus vaccine bringing the total number of people with at least one dose to 122,355 and the total number of residents with two doses to 72,069 — about 12.4% of the population.

Anne Arundel County is in Phase 1C that currently includes all residents age 65 and older, residents and employees of group living facilities, workers needed to keep the government functioning, teachers and childcare workers. Vaccinations for Phase 1A and 1B groups, mainly health care workers and first responders, are also continuing. Residents are receiving either the two-shot sequence of Pfizer or Moderna vaccines, or the single-dose vaccine from Johnson & Johnson depending on availability.

Across Maryland, some 767,996 people, or about 12.703% of Maryland’s population, have been fully vaccinated either by receiving the single-dose immunization or completing one of the two-dose schedules. It’s the second day in a row the state has seen more than 50,000 doses administered, with an average over the last seven days of 44,228 immunizations dished out daily. More than 2.1 million vaccines have been administered across the state.

To sign up for vaccination, visit aacounty. org/covidvax.

In Anne Arundel, more than 5.74% of tests for the virus came back positive. The statewide positivity rate reported Friday is 4.28%.

The state reported 850 Maryland residents are hospitalized with COVID-19. About 648 of those patients require acute care beds, and another 202 are receiving more serious care.

In Anne Arundel County, at least 58 patients are hospitalized with COVID-19 on Saturday. Twelve needed intensive care.

Data from the Anne Arundel County Department of Health shows the current seven-day average for ICU hospital beds in use is 68.8%. The seven-day average for acute beds in use is about 72.9%.